The ALPACA research project to improve design of piles driven in chalk

Richard J. Jardine*, Stavroula Kontoe, Tingfa Liu, Ken Vinck, Byron W. Byrne, Ross A. McAdam, Fabian Schranz, Thomas Andolfsson, Róisín M. Buckley

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference Paperpeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Chalk is present under large areas of NW Europe as a low-density, porous, weak carbonate rock. Large numbers of offshore wind turbines, bridges and port facilities rely on piles driven in chalk. Current European practice assumes ultimate shaft resistances that appear low in comparison with the Chalk’s unconfined compression strength and CPT cone resistance ranges and can impact very significantly on project economics. Little guidance is available on pile driveability, set-up or lateral resistance in chalk, or on how piles driven in chalk can sustain axial or lateral cyclic loading. This paper describes the ALPACA (Axial-Lateral Pile Analysis for Chalk Applying multi-scale field and laboratory testing) project funded by EPSRC and Industry that is developing new design guidance through comprehensive field testing at a well-characterised low-to-medium density test site, supported by analysis of other tests. Field experiments on 36 driven piles, sixteen of which employ high resolution fibre-optic strain gauges, is supported by advanced laboratory and in-situ testing, as well as theoretical analysis. The field work commenced in October 2017 and was largely complete in May 2019.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2019

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